So far I have only kept freshwater fish, but I am thinking of tryng a small saltwater tank soon. I am a comlete newbee to this and would like to know what corals are easy to look after so that I can do some more research on them before I do anything drastic!

Terweq wrote:I would like to go for a 5-10 gallon with an option of later adding one small fish. Do you think I could manage that?

One thing that would help greatly is reading a few good books. Books such as The New Marine Aquarium by Michael S. Paletta and The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert M. Fenner are great.

It could definitely be managed but someone that is just starting out it would be best to use a larger tank such as a 20-30 gallon. With a larger tank it is much easier to keep the water parameters stable unlike a smaller tank where things can go bad pretty quickly. You are also very limited as to what you can house in a 5-10 gallon tank.

However is you are determined to set up a 5-10 gallon and it is the largest tank you can have there are a few things to keep in mind. As I said earlier it is much more difficult to maintain a smaller tank so make sure you keep the bioload low, preform weekly water changes, and don't overfeed. When it comes to housing a fish in a tank of this size you are very limited. It depends on the whether it is a 5 or 10 gallon but small Gobies such as Clowns, Trimma, Masked, Catalina, etc would be a good fish. They stay small with the largest growing to only 2" and are hardy. If you go with a larger tank like in the 10 gallon range you could look into a Ocellaris Clownfish, Firefish, or even a small Damsel.

When choosing coral for your tank make sure that the coral doesn't grow too large and that you have the correct amount of light, flow, etc. Some good corals for a beginner include Mushrooms, Zoas, Button Polyps, and Capnella. Other corals including Candy Cane, Sun, etc are fairly easy to care for although they do require feedings.

Remember to do plenty of research, take it slowly, and if you are unsure about anything just ask.

All of the corals that I listed require low to moderate lighting however Sun coral are non-photosynthetic meaning they need minimal to no light at all to survive. It would be best to place Sun coral in a somewhat shady spot where they are out of direct light.

Some corals need to be fed in order for them to thrive in your tank. Sun coral needs to be fed a few times a week although everyday is preferred. Other corals such as Candy Cane, Brain, etc will benefit greatly if fed meaty foods occasionally. First you choose what type of food you are going to feed which could be pieces of raw shrimp, frozen brine shrimp, or Mysis shrimp. Second you need to choose how to get the food to the coral such as a turkey baster or a dropper which both work very well. Lastly just release the food directly on to the polyps. It depends on how much food to feed but a small amount per polyp should be fine.

Yes although the majority of aquarists who keep Sun coral place them in a shady area they can do well if placed out in the open.

Terweq wrote:What do you feed your corals? Which food is best? or is it better t feed a variety of foods as with tropical fish?

The corals that I currently keep do not require feedings. You can feed mysis shrimp, Cyclop-eeze, fortified Brine shrimp, etc. Yes feeding a variety of foods would also benefit corals as well as fish, and inverts.

Terweq wrote:Do you have any photos of the corals you have named? Which of them do you keep yourself?

Out of the coral I listed in the previous posts I've kept Mushrooms, Zoas, and Capnella. If you want me to I could post some pictures of them here I will.

This site has many pictures of Sun coral: <a href='http://www.melevsreef.com/suncoral.html' target='_blank'>http://www.melevsreef.com/suncoral.html</a>

Yes although the majority of aquarists who keep Sun coral place them in a shady area they can do well if placed out in the open.

How many watts per liter do you use for your aquarium?

Perfectblue wrote:

Terweq wrote:What do you feed your corals? Which food is best? or is it better t feed a variety of foods as with tropical fish?

The corals that I currently keep do not require feedings. You can feed mysis shrimp, Cyclop-eeze, fortified Brine shrimp, etc. Yes feeding a variety of foods would also benefit corals as well as fish, and inverts.

Are there any dangers with some marine foods as there are with some live, freshwater foods? Are newly hatched artemia large enough and suitable?

Perfectblue wrote:

Terweq wrote:Do you have any photos of the corals you have named? Which of them do you keep yourself?

Out of the coral I listed in the previous posts I've kept Mushrooms, Zoas, and Capnella. If you want me to I could post some pictures of them here I will.

This site has many pictures of Sun coral: <a href='http://www.melevsreef.com/suncoral.html' target='_blank'>http://www.melevsreef.com/suncoral.html</a>

I generally don't like to use the watts per gallon rule as there are other factors to consider including height of tank, species of coral, coral placement, etc. If going by the watts per gallon rule for my aquarium I have 6.5 watts per gallon and if I figured correctly about 1.7 watts per liter.

Terweq wrote:Are there any dangers with some marine foods as there are with some live, freshwater foods? Are newly hatched artemia large enough and suitable?

Yes you can feed live brine shrimp however it can be alot of work to hatch them and frozen brine shrimp is just as nutritional. You can soak frozen, freeze dried, live brine, etc in a additive called Selcon which improves the nutritional value. Frozen foods are preferred and are very easy to feed.